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Illustration: Flight into Egypt, by Gentile da Fabriano (1423)
Pope Francis’ letter to the bishops of the United States of America
From the Vatican, 10 February 2025
Dear Brothers in the Episcopate,
I write to you today to address a few words to you in these delicate moments that you live as Pastors of the People of God who walk together in the United States of America.
1. The journey of the people of Israel from slavery to freedom that traveled, as narrated in the Book of Exodus, invites us to consider the reality of our time, so clearly marked by the phenomenon of migration, as a decisive moment in history to reaffirm not only our faith in a God who is always close, incarnate, migrant and refugee, but also the infinite and transcendent dignity of every human person.
2. These words with which I begin are not an artificial construct.
Even a cursory study of the social doctrine of the Church clearly shows that Jesus Christ is the true Emmanuel (Mt 1:23 –“Behold, a virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and his name shall be called Emmanuel”).
He did not live apart from the difficult experience of being expelled from his own land because of an imminent risk to his life, and from the experience of having to take refuge in a society and a culture foreign to his own.
The Son of God, by becoming man, also chose to live the drama of immigration.
I would like to recall, among other things, the words with which Pope Pius XII began his Apostolic Constitution on the Care of Migrants, which is considered the “Magna Carta” of the Church’s thinking on migration:
“The exiled family of Nazareth, Jesus, Mary, and Joseph, both migrating to Egypt and then fleeing in Egypt from the wrath of the wicked king, stands as a type, exemplar, and protector for all kinds of migrants, pilgrims, and refugees of all times and places, who, driven either by fear of persecution or by poverty, are forced to leave their homeland, their sweet parents, relatives, and friends, and seek out strange lands.”
3. In the same way, Jesus Christ, who loves everyone with a universal love, teaches us the constant recognition of the dignity of every human being, without exception.
Indeed, when we speak of “infinite and transcendent dignity,” we wish to emphasize that the most decisive value that the human person possesses surpasses and sustains all other juridical considerations that can be made to regulate life in society.
Thus, all Christian believers and people of good will are called to consider the legitimacy of norms and public policies in the light of the dignity of the person and his or her fundamental rights, and not the other way around.
4. I have been closely following the great crisis that is taking place in the United States with the initiation of a program of mass deportations. The rightly formed conscience cannot fail to make a critical judgment and express its disapproval of any measure that tacitly or explicitly identifies the illegal status of some migrants with criminality.
At the same time, one must recognize the right of a nation to defend itself and protect its communities from those who have committed violent or serious crimes while in the country or before arriving.
Nevertheless, the act of deporting people, who in many cases have left their own country for reasons of extreme poverty, insecurity, exploitation, persecution or serious environmental degradation, violates the dignity of many men and women and entire families, and places them in a state of particular vulnerability and defenselessness.
5. This is not a trivial matter: an authentic rule of law is verified precisely in the dignified treatment that all people deserve, especially the poorest and most marginalized.
The true common good is promoted when society and government, with creativity and strict respect for the rights of all — as I have affirmed on numerous occasions — welcome, protect, promote and integrate the most fragile, unprotected and vulnerable.
This does not preclude the development of a policy that regulates orderly and legal migration.
However, this development cannot come about through the privilege of some at the expense of others. What is built on the basis of violence and not on the truth about the equal dignity of every human being begins badly and will end badly.
6. Christians know well that only by affirming the infinite dignity of all does our own identity as persons and as communities come to maturity.
Christian love is not a concentric expansion of interests gradually extended to other persons and groups.
In other words: the human person is not a mere individual, relatively expansive, with some philanthropic feelings!
The human person is a subject with dignity who, through the constitutive relationship with all, especially with the poorest, can mature progressively in his identity and vocation.
The true order of love (ordo amoris) that must be promoted is that which we discover by meditating constantly on the parable of the “Good Samaritan” (Lk 10:25-37), that is, by meditating on the love that builds a fraternity open to all, without exception. [3]
7. But the concern for personal, communal or national identity, apart from these considerations, easily introduces an ideological criterion that distorts social life and imposes the will of the strongest as the criterion of truth.
8. I recognize your valuable efforts, dear brother Bishops of the United States, in working closely with migrants and refugees, proclaiming Jesus Christ and promoting fundamental human rights.
God will richly reward all that you do to protect and defend those who are considered less worthy, less important or less human!
9. I exhort all the faithful of the Catholic Church, and all men and women of good will, not to give in to narratives that discriminate against and cause unnecessary suffering to our migrant and refugee brothers and sisters.
With charity and clarity we are all called to live in solidarity and fraternity, to build bridges that bring us ever closer together, to avoid walls of ignominy and to learn to give our lives as Jesus Christ gave his for the salvation of all.
10. Let us ask Our Lady of Guadalupe to protect individuals and families who live in fear or pain because of migration and/or deportation.
May the “Virgen morena”, who knew how to reconcile peoples when they were at odds, grant us all to meet again as brothers and sisters, within her embrace, and thus take a step forward in building a society that is more fraternal, inclusive and respectful of the dignity of all.
Fraternally, Francis
